Holly Meehanhttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com
Tue, 20 Mar 2018 02:04:04 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://hcmeehan.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/cropped-hollya.jpg?w=32Holly Meehanhttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com
3232Longreadshttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/longreads/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/longreads/#respondFri, 03 Mar 2017 12:05:50 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=89How often do you read something great on the internet, and then when you try to find it again it seems to have disappeared? Well, it happens to me all the time. For a while I tried sending links to myself on social media, but I think keeping this blog post might be a little more efficient. So here goes, in no particular order:

]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/longreads/feed/06975024540_97e4bfeed4_ohcmeehanFashion Schools: factories of the creative elitehttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/fashion-schools-factories-of-the-creative-elite/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/fashion-schools-factories-of-the-creative-elite/#respondTue, 28 Jul 2015 19:54:34 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=57This is a translation I did recently for a friend of mine who is Editor-in-Chief at the wonderful l’Insolent magazine, for their Youth issue. The original piece was written by Leïla Messouak.

Fashion entices as much as it intrigues, it is the perfect modern paragon of a dream factory. It is unsurprising then that a handful of prestigious schools now offer young people an entrance into this world of glamour, but not without hard work and sacrifice. Establishments like Central Saint Martins, Parsons, Royal College of Art, Fashion Institute of Technology and the Institut Francais de la Mode enforce the rigor of the fashion world and demonstrate unremittingly brutal judgment and criticism. Selective universities, recognized professionals acting as professors, and brilliant pupils: the classic ingredients of elite education. Do these schools turn out a fashion elite, in the classic sense of the term? Can a twenty year old today imagine living in the world of fashion? And to what extent do these schools shape the fashion of tomorrow? Lets meet the exceptional universities.

The lucky few who penetrate the walls of these establishments find themselves in a unique situation, surrounded by sewing machines, printing equipment and wooden mannequins. Mood boards and colored pens replace laptops. The students of these prestigious schools all share talent, curiosity and a fascination with beauty. There are hundreds of them, selected based on applications, who all show the potential to adapt to the demands of the fashion schools. They are soon faced with the reality of constraints and delays, but also the criticism, sometimes cutting and often fair, of their teachers. The aim of the exercise is what these establishments hope to transform their pupils into: talented young people bursting with a desire to become innovative designers complete with a clear vision of business. Balancing sensibility and financial viability, creative passion and numerical precision, is what these students learn during their course, alongside a dose of disenchantment.

These schools rationalize design as fashion itself has been rationalized. In France, 165,000 jobs are linked directly or indirectly to the clothing industry and in 2014 the total clothing exports rose to 7.5 million euros. Far from small family-run houses, fashion is now the business of multi-nationals. The biggest advertisers sponsor the schools in the hope of finding the creative talents that will bring fashion brands of the future good fortune, since they are already worn out by the constraints and demands of a rigorous and ruthless industry.

The rationalization of fashion is also clear from a modern vein of study that treats the industry as a cultural object. The schools, through taking part in conferences and research, have transformed fashion into a true academic discipline. Elodie Nowinski, fashion historian and professor at Sciences Po, explains, “Fashion is a legitimate object of study. It is a cultural production just like cinema, music, television or literature, which is structured as a business, has given rise to a system of language (Barthes) and which operates around an object that can be studied like history of art, or can be studied as a whole, an organized system, in the same way as cultural history.” The Institut Français de la Mode, for example, as well as teaching exceptional designers, has developed an observatory to analyze and study the cultural and financial aspects of fashion, often in conjunction with the ministry of industry. Fashion is therefore a culturally and economically strong object. As a powerful industry and legitimate form of academia, is fashion about to become a conventional career path like any other?

Unlike the stereotypes that see fashion as a natural environment for spoiled, superficial children, fashion schools are home to young people distinguished by their mental lucidity and a smooth determination. Amélie is French and studies history of fashion at Central Saint Martins. She explains how fashion is an industry that is far from being oversubscribed, especially in the field of innovation. As for job security, she is clear: it is about having many strings to your bow. As well as being enthusiastic about fashion, she speaks fluent Italian, English and German. “I always knew that I wanted to work in fashion. So far I’ve tried to put all the odds on my side in order to achieve my professional aspirations, particularly using my languages, my studies, and my internships (at brands Kenzo and Burberry).” She describes Central Saint Martin’s (CSM) as “one of the best fashion schools in the world, enjoying an excellent international reputation. The course is in English and the school is very cosmopolitan, which provides me with an education that is outward looking and internationally based. At CSM, we have the chance to discover fashion it its entirety. We are regularly given projects with students from other disciplines, so much so that we all have a clear vision of fashion and all its actors.”

These prestigious fashion schools borrow their operating model from management schools, starting by teaching the importance of networks. The students gain a global understanding of the fashion industry. Students in journalism, design, public relation, maintenance and marketing rub shoulders, socializing and eventually professionally maturing together. From the first year, they learn to work hand in hand, already weaving the friendships that will serve them well in the future. Sarah Forgie is Australian and studies textile design at London School of Fashion. For her, studying fashion was the perfect compromise, combining her different passions. “I was always interested in art and design in general, without really being sure which career path would suit me best. Evidently, ever since I was young I loved fashion, but also photography and fine art. Eventually, fashion and textiles in particular seemed to be a good way of bringing all of my centers of interest together. I chose London School of Fashion because it offered a textile design program specifically adapted for fashion. Textile design can be just as well applied to interior design, for example.”

Fashion is a powerful and blossoming industry, but turnover is important and the competition is extremely high. Designers take over from each other at the helm of brands at a rate of knots. Talisa Almonte, a graduate from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, explains how she is fascinated with fashion, despite the apparent instability of creative industries. “When I was small I already knew I wanted to do something artistic. What I love about fashion is the way an idea is transformed into something palpable, not just beautiful or conceptual but also functional and practical. Afterwards, I knew it would be a financial challenge, but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I doubt that there is any particular route that guarantees wealth and success. For me, above all its about giving it your everything at school, taking as much as possible from your professional experiences and perhaps knowing how to force the hand of destiny, just a little bit.” Having left Miami, where she grew up, to move to New York for her studies, Talisa now works for Victoria’s Secret. “I think that they key, when you’re staring out, is to be open, to accept opportunities that don’t at first glance correspond to your idea of a dream job. It’s through these experiences that you learn and acquire true expertise. I was signed with Victoria’s Secret, for their pink label, three months after leaving school. I was lucky to be taken on so quickly. I have learnt an enormous amount.”

Finally, these establishments act as unique and extraordinary showcases for their students. At the end of the degree show in their final year the best students are selected to present their collection to the press on a runway. Journalists and buyers rush to the events in search of creative passion and the avant-garde. Galliano, McQueen, and the design duo behind Proenza Schouler, Hernandez and McCollough, were all discovered at their respective degree shows. In this way, the schools act as trampoline for a lucky handful that knew how to create surprise on the runway. For the rest there will be hard work, but no immediate success, marking the beginning of a career that is sure to be challenging and non-linear. Between the individual and the masses, the prestigious fashion schools are places of great influence that produce a global and uniform elite, where individualities are watered down, with the exception of a few prodigies who were able to differentiate themselves from the designers. These schools turn out rigorous young creatives, capable of integrating in this gigantic industry. Those who see immediate success are the few. However, these schools, through the courses they offer and the prestige they hold, offer a kind of security in the face of the instability of creative industries. Now structured and rationalized in the image of fashion itself, these schools have become factories of the elite more or less like other universities. The latest step in the history of creative madness.

]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/fashion-schools-factories-of-the-creative-elite/feed/0mainthumbnail-l-insolent-28-january-2014hcmeehanThe Vogue Paris Guide to 2014https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/the-vogue-paris-guide-to-2014/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/the-vogue-paris-guide-to-2014/#respondMon, 03 Feb 2014 10:51:52 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=17With the flurry of the festive season over, we’re gearing up for another year of runway shows, celebrity collaborations and exclusive exhibitions that looks set to be even bigger than the last. We round up the fashion dates for your diary this year.
2014 promises at least two unmissable exhibitions in Paris, four in London and the annual fashion extravaganza of the Costume Institute exhibition in New York, complete with all the glamour of its opening night, the MET ball. On top of that, this year’s Fashion Weeks will see a wave of new designer faces present their first collections at the helm of some of the most established and best-loved brands, to keep you on your toes through the shows. But if all of that sounds too much like hard work, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to relax with some retail therapy, thanks to upcoming designer collaborations from the likes of Kate Moss, Isabel Marant and Proenza Schouler or even to enjoy a trip to the cinema to celebrate not just one, but two Yves Saint Laurent biopics that will be gracing the silver screen this year. So sit back, and let Vogue.fr guide you through the landmark fashion events 2014 holds in store.

In London
Just a short train ride from Paris, London is set to be a hotbed of fashion exhibitions this year. At the forefront, The Victoria & Albert museum is holding not just one, but two impressive retrospectives. The first, opening on April 5, traces the development of Italian style, and its impact on the fashion world from the end of the second world war to the present day, featuring works from celebrated Italian designersDolce & Gabbana,Fendi, Missoniand Versace. The second looks back over two centuries of wedding dresses, examining each and every aspect of the all-important dress, with over 80 gowns, archive images, sketches, accessories and anecdotes all set to go on display from May 3. Elsewhere in the capital, the works of British photographer David Bailey will be celebrated in an exhibition titled Bailey’s Stardust at the National Portrait Gallery from February 6, which will showcase over 250 of his intensely atmospheric black and white photographs, while in April, travelling retrospectiveJean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk will land at the Barbican, celebrating the enfant terrible of French fashion in an installation of over 140 pieces and never-before-seen material. If all of that’s not an excuse for a weekend break, we don’t know what is.

Yves Saint Laurent at the cinema
Directors Jalil Lespert and Bertrand Bonnello are both offering their own interpretations of French designer Yves Saint Laurent this year. The first, Yves Saint Laurent, was approved by Pierre Bergé himself, and sees Pierre Niney of the Comédie Française starring as the designer, with Guillame Gallienne depicting Pierre Bergé alongside Charlotte Le Bon,Laura Smet and Marie de Villepin. Directed by Jalil Lespert and focusing on the designer’s budding career from his appointment at Dior in 1957 to the famous Opéra-Ballets Russes collection in 1976, the film hit cinemas on January 8. Still to come, Bertrand Bonnello‘s Saint Laurent will be released on May 14, starring Gaspard Ulliel, Jérémie Renier, Léa Seydoux and Willem Dafoe in an interpretation of the designer’s personal and professional life between 1965 and 1976.

Designer collaborations: Capsule collections
On the cards for 2014: three fashion icons releasing collaborative capsule collections, and they’re all at the top of our wishlist. First of all, on February 1,Isabel Marantand Oliver Peoples will be releasing a collaborative collection of sunglasses in Isabel Marant‘s signature, romantic, rock and roll style. Next up, New York design duo Proenza Schouler will be touching down in Paris, bringing an exclusive exhibition of 50 of its most important pieces and a film tracing the brand‘s development to Bon Marché on the Rive Gauche, where it will be taking over the window displays as well as offering up a new capsule collection designed exclusively for the collaboration. To top it all off, this April Kate Moss will be cementing her place as queen of the British fashion industry with the release her latest collection for British brand Topshop. Three and a half years since the phenomenal success of her last collection, Kate has returned to the design scene to bring us a new selection of style treats for Spring/Summer 2014.

Designer collaborations: Jewelry
There are plenty of glittering treats in store for the magpies among you, as photographer-come-jewelry designer Laura Melchoir teams up with Swedish brand & Other Stories for a classic jewelry collection inspired by chains, honeycomb, marble and ginko (a japanese tree). The collection is predominantly silver and gold, with a dusting of semi-precious stones, and will be available in & Other Stories stores and online from mid-February. Also coming up this year, Polish model and Vogue Paris girl Magdalena Frackowiak has announced she will be trying her hand as a jewelry designer, sharing a sneak preview of her upcoming work with her Instagramfollowers.

Designer collaborations: Shoes
To the delight of trainer fans everywhere, sportswear giant Adidas announced a re-release of their legendary Stan Smith sneakers last May. Amongst the first sports shoes ever to be worn off the tennis courts and on the streets, Stan Smiths attracted a cult following and are being brought back to the brand’s shelves following public outcry when they were discontinued in 2012. In other shoe news, British designer Sophia Webster‘s first collection for J. Crew – which had audiences in raptures at Spring/Summer 2014 Fashion Week – will be released on sale this year. The designer’s capsule collection features 12 pairs of feminine designs making use of prints, crystals and Aztec inspired motifs. A summer treat for your feet.

]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/the-vogue-paris-guide-to-2014/feed/0slide_333356_3323886_largehcmeehanslide_333356_3323576_largeslide_333356_3323627_largeslide_333356_3323628_largeslide_333356_3323867_largeslide_333356_3323886_largeslide_333356_3323887_largeslide_333356_3323905_largeslide_333356_3323906_largeSoviet eaterieshttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/soviet-eateries/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/soviet-eateries/#respondWed, 01 Jan 2014 21:17:58 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=50The Moscow of today is a far cry from the soviet state capital of the mid-twentieth century; the influence of communism is most present in the hammer and sickles occasionally adorning its architecture rather than the lifestyles and pastimes of its inhabitants, who now lead the same cosmopolitan lives as their European counterparts. However, scattered across the street map of this modern metropolis, a few vestiges of the soviet era remain in the form of eateries opened from the 1960s onwards to provide cheap traditional food to Russian workers.

One of these eateries, Blinnaya, can be found on a side road a short walk from Taganskaya metro station. It is located only a few minutes from the centre of town, but crossing the threshold of its heavy duty metal door feels like stepping back behind the iron curtain. In 1962, the year Blinnaya was established, the floor, walls and even ceiling of this one roomed restaurant were clad in brown polyester tiling painted to resemble crazy paving, and haven’t been touched since. Facing the entrance, an alcove fronted with a chest height counter provides an operating theatre for the two identical Russian waitresses who bustle around each other in mismatched blue polyester aprons. The menu, two A4 sheets of handwritten Cyrillic, lopsidedly selotaped to the side of the counter, consists entirely of classic Russian foods and nothing over the price mark of one hundred rubles, roughly two pounds. The waitresses take orders and send their clients away at top speed to wait for their meals, which will need to be retrieved once they have been prepared, served up on dubiously speckled brown plates, and unceremoniously deposited on the counter by one of these stern babushkas. Those who have ordered tea or coffee are issued with plastic cups and directed to the large samovar perched on the end of the counter, next to the metal tub from which customers help themselves to disfigured aluminium cutlery. In true soviet style, there are no seating arrangements, punters stand at chest height tables, to encourage them to eat quickly and get back to work. Ranged at these tables all walks of Muscovite life stand shoulder to shoulder, still in their coats and hats, and wolf down their bowls of plov and plates of sausages whilst sneakily sipping vodka from the bottles concealed in their inside pockets. After finishing this veritable feast, said Muscovites scrape any leftovers into the bin and return their plates to the counter to be rinsed and restacked, ready for the next hungry workers that troop in from the cold.

This rare breed of eatery may seem curiously out of place in a modern day Moscow so awash with Starbucks and Subways. But they live on, although diminished in number, serving the same dishes as the first days they opened, and judging from the satisfied clients who still stand in groups around their high tables discussing the news of the day; they looks set to remain that way.

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]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/soviet-eateries/feed/0avatars-000198278681-ysw2au-t500x500hcmeehanWedding Dresses: The Vogue Paris Pick for 2014https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/wedding-dresses-the-vogue-paris-pick-for-2014/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/wedding-dresses-the-vogue-paris-pick-for-2014/#respondTue, 10 Dec 2013 20:20:30 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=22Whether you’re planning a wedding or simply love lace as much as we do, look to Vogue Paris‘ new weddings channel to see the trends for 2014, a year that puts the bride before the dress. Break all the rules and throw out that meringue dress, with the help of our four favorite designers, Celestina Agostino, Laure de Sagazan, Delphine Manivet and Elise Hameau.

All of our designers agree on one thing: next year, wedding dresses will be all about reflecting the bride’s individual style, with no need to cater to tradition. In the words of Laure de Sagazan, wedding dresses no longer need to be “worn just once and then left in the loft”, so forget highly structured corsets and cumbersome layers of taffeta, 2014’s brides will be wearing everything from short skirts to lace tops for their trips down the aisle.

We’re sure you’re only planning on only be getting married once, so how do you go about choosing the all-important dress? Follow Celestina Agostino‘s advice, and “choose your wedding dress like you chose your fiancé”, to find the dress that’s right for you. Luckily, all four of our designers offer personalised service in their Paris boutiques, providing one-on-one consultations to match the bride-to-be with the dress of their dreams, and lend a helping hand every step of the way to create a dress as unique as the bride wearing it.

If you’re casting around for inspiration, try the elegant, romantic pieces from our designers’ vintage inspired collections. We love the 1920s style dropped waists and high, modest necklines that bring subdued sensuality to the modern day. Elise Hameau notes that the backs of dresses are attracting more and more attention, receiving elaborate make-overs, while Delphine Manivet sees a trend towards winter weddings and varied fabrics, even going as far as faux fur. Of course, delicate lace and smooth silk are still firm favorites, whether for retro styles or modern gowns, but don’t be afraid to break away from tradition to follow your heart. Now, take a look at what our favourite wedding dress designers have to offer.

Celestina Agostino, 2014 Bridal Collection.“I don’t start with the dress, I start with the bride. I get to know her and create a style that I think works with her personality, that I go on to work into a gown.”

Laure de Sagazan, Dickens dress.“I have clients who choose to keep personal touches for the wedding day, whether it’s a bracelet they never take off, or a pair of their favorite heels. People are more deeply moved by seeing someone they know at the altar, not someone entirely made up as a bride.”

Delphine Manivet, Anguerrand dress.“I’m not very casual, I like to work on fleeting moments, whether it’s a wedding or a red carpet. These occasions are very short-lived, but they are milestones in our lives.”

Elise Hameau, Olympe & Madeleine dress.“It’s about finding a compromise between designing to suit a bride’s personal style and what will fit her perfectly.”

]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/wedding-dresses-the-vogue-paris-pick-for-2014/feed/0slide_328091_3183841_largehcmeehanslide_328091_3183816_largeslide_328091_3183820_largeslide_328091_3183828_largeslide_328091_3183841_largeMind: The Gaphttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/mind-the-gap/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/mind-the-gap/#respondSat, 30 Nov 2013 21:13:06 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=48This is a piece I wrote which was featured in The Sophist – a magazine about philosophy at the University of Oxford.

The problems of philosophy are over! The demon of consciousness, lurking in the dark, inexplicable, incomprehensible, beyond reproach, is finally dead and buried. Research conducted in the psychology department of Oxford University has given us the answer, the final, unavoidable truth: the mind does not exist. There are no such things as emotions, desires, pleasures and pains. There are no beliefs, no intentions, no decisions. You are nothing more than an advanced biological machine living in a complex, deterministic social hierarchy. Those spirits and vapours of mental states are nothing but the tired language of romantic literature, like angels and unicorns.

The fact of the matter is, you see, that your consciousness is not real. It is nothing but an epi-phenomenon, a side product like the occasional sparks of metal cogs grinding tirelessly in the ceaseless engine of your brain. Extensive studies have shown that concepts such as “love”, “want” and “intention” are in fact entirely useless. To prove this they ran some tests, the scientists tried and failed to measure the intensity of “love” and plot it on a graph, they passed it over to the logicians who formalised all the statements of “love” and found that there was no proof for any of them, and they led to no useful inferences! It was observed that the study of this dubious, intangible “mind” lead to no accurate predictions of the future, no reliable rules for behaviour and no remarked patterns.

The final nail in the coffin was the historical analysis. The existence of the mind has been believed for millennia, but there have been no advancements in its whole history. The expressions in Greek and Roman literature weren’t really so different from ours at the turn of the twenty first century; our understanding of “feelings” has grown no deeper over all the ages. Now really, in these times of advanced scientific discovery there is no room for stagnant theories. These mental phenomena, unyielding to quantification or formalisation, really cannot be allowed. It is a well-known truth that anything which cannot be measured cannot really exist at all, and so this theory of the mind really should be cast aside, making room for a fully physical, scientific understanding of the advanced animals we are.

These phrases that people used to use so freely; “I’m in pain”, “I believe in God”, “I love you”, they really mean nothing at all. They were only the products of confused thinking, like those primitive mythological explanations for the changing seasons or weather patterns but trying instead to grasp the different patterns of scattered stimulation of the amygdala and insular cortex. The existence of these demon-phrases existed so long only as a result of the blasted trickery of language, the habit we get in to of talking like we might be free, or have some kind of control over the processes of our brains. A belief in mental phenomena is pure ignorance, intolerable in this modern age of accuracy which leaves no room from incomplete explanations or dodgy folk-theories. But now we can forget these meaningless phrases, and express our brain states accurately! You can turn to your lover and say “Your presence activates my biological triggers and hormone receptors; you put me in brain state 4372”, and they will know exactly what you mean.

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]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/mind-the-gap/feed/0372408882_da6e52e165_ohcmeehanFashion Forward: Style Innovation for a Digital Agehttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/fashion-forward-style-innovation-for-a-digital-age/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/fashion-forward-style-innovation-for-a-digital-age/#respondMon, 11 Nov 2013 20:30:16 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=28An explosion of digital innovation in recent years has given fashion brands the chance to explore previously unheard of possibilities, from Louis Vuitton pioneering e-commerce in France, to a revival of fashion history at Chanel. And plenty in between. Above all, technology has provided a new medium for labels, from heritage brands to avant-garde innovators, to explore and express their identity and style, and to take the stories, ideas and icons who that provided their foundation forwards into a new digital dimension. We take a look at the brands which are doing it best, through a few of the technological treats on offer.

Chanel
In homage to its famous history, the classic French brand launchedInside Chanel as a digital project exploring the brand’s development and the life of its founder, the Grand Dame of French fashion, Coco Chanel. In a series of nine engaging multimedia videos which form the chapters of Chanel‘s rich past, we are treated to archive footage, famous quotes and animated illustrations which are just as informative as they are stylish. In the final two instalments, Coco by Karl and Chanel by Karl, the brand’s creative designer and a fashion legend in his own right,Karl Lagerfeld, steps in front of the lens to share his vision and understanding of this classic brand, and his thoughts on bringing Coco‘s classic style into the modern age. Let him lead you back in time with these bite-sized episodes of fashion history.

Louis Vuitton
This October, Louis Vuitton became the first French brand make a splash in the world of m-commerce with a new smartphone and tablet app allowing shoppers to browse and buy Louis Vuitton products on the go. To get the word out, the brand collaborated with illustrator Jordi Labanda on a short graphic film which shows Paris’ Pont Alexandre III spreading across the continent to symbolize the development of European e-commerce, much to the joy of cosmopolitan shoppers who are can now find Louis Vuitton‘s latest collection of shoes, bags and clothes at their fingertips. In another video collaboration earlier this month, the French brand joined up with filmmaker Quentin Jones to create a bold, graphic clip presenting their Fall/Winter 2013-2014 accessories, which is also on the website, along with plenty more digital gems to uncover.

Burberry
British heritage brand, Burberryhas worked hard to establish itself globally as a digital innovator, leading the charge in interactive online fashion projects. This season, with Burberry Kisses you can send a digital kiss anywhere in the world, by taking a snap of your pout, choosing from a selection of lip shades, and popping the kiss in a virtual envelope with your personal note to be sent directly to a loved one. The website even plots all the kisses on an interactive map, so you can follow the spread of digital affection in real time. Burberry is also celebrated for projects like the long-running Art of the Trench, which provides a platform for fashion lovers to share snaps of themselves in the brand’s classic trench coat on the Burberry website, virtual trench coat-builder and interaction on social media, including a sleek Pinterest account which reinforces the brand’s classic British style with a board of beautiful shots of London, and another devoted entirely to the Great British weather. With all of this on offer, there’s no excuse not to jump on board with the British pioneers of digital fashion.

Jean Paul Gaultier
This season, Jean Paul Gaultier has breathed new life into his iconic perfumes Classique andLe Male with a glamorous video featuring models Jarrod Scott and Rianna Ten Haken, who embody the classic scents. The video sees the stars bringing a romantic narrative to the renowned fragrances in a fresh, innovative development that remains in keeping withGaultier‘s typically sensual, seductive style. Jean Paul Gaultier‘s website has also been given an interactive, digital make-over with the latest innovations in animation and games to set the brand’s classic features and motifs firmly in the digital age… plus a little humour from the enfant terrible of fashion, bien sûr.

Hermès
This October Hermès brings its classic style to the digital ring, with a brand new app revisiting its legendary silk scarves. The app, which is free to download from iTunes, offers tutorials on six knots which can be used to sneak a silk scarf into any outfit, in over 20 different suggested styles. The app is featured on the Hermès website with a short promotional video, and is just one digital delight from an on-screen grid of different interactiveHermès products and playful animations. Don’t miss the interactive illustration of a French workshop and boutique just waiting to be explored, or the animation that unveils a different model from the brand’s collection of geometric print silk scarves with every click.

Maison Martin Margiela Maison Martin Margiela describes itself as “iconoclastic” on its Twitter page, and if the label’s highly original website – a nod to its “anti-fashion” style – is anything to go by, we’d have to agree. The avant-garde French brand presents a homepage designed to look like a collection of Internet Explorer windows, each of which leads to a part of the Margiela world. “Universe” links to the brand’s Facebook page, and “News” opens Maison Martin Margiela‘s Twitter page but unlike many other fashion brands, there is no information about their history or identity, a reflection of the signature style of a label that keeps its design team anonymous and often masks its model’s faces at fashion shows.

Prada Prada has always been a patron of the arts, collaborating across genres to create innovative work, which in recent years has taken on a decidedly digital edge. Notably, the Prada book, a beautifully crafted luxury tome exploring the history of the Italian brand in rich images and text. The book was released in print version in 2009, but the whole volume is also available online in a scrollable digital format to be perused at leisure. The brand’s site also features work from Prada Journal, a writing competition launched by the brand last year, with winning pieces read by prominent literary figures in videos available on the site. We also love the time-lapse video of the Heart of the Multitude project, which shows artists invited by Prada decorating the walls of the brand’s Spring/Summer 2014 show venue, a sneak peek backstage at the show’s production.

DiorDior has recently unveiled a new, high-tech website complete with smooth design, beautiful photos, and updated, inspiring content. One feature of this new website is Dior en Vidéo, a scrolling wall of videos which includes promotional clips, behind-the-scenes exclusives, and the latest runway footage for a live look at life inside one of the biggest houses in the business. For a recent project, the brand collaborated with Fantastic Man magazine to create five videos in a series called Rotation, which combines dance with fashion, showing talented performers pulling off complex moves whilst wearing Dior Hommes Fall/Winter 2013-2014collection. The videos are also available on Dior‘s YouTube account, which includes even more material, including a graphic video that looks back at the history of the house signature colour red and the brand’s iconic and empowering lipstick, plus many more snapshots from the world of Dior.

Van Cleef & Arpels
Luck has always been a strong theme in the work of Van Cleef & Arpels, a fine jewellery label known for embellishing their luxury jewellery with good-luck charms such as four-leafed clovers and ladybirds. The brand is celebrating this tradition with a new interactive feature on their website, which allows users to choose a precious metal, a collection, and a quote about luck to generate a short clip to send to a loved one with a note, in a virtual lucky charm. The brand’s website also features an interactive studio tour, which gives jewellery lovers the opportunity to explore the production process and go behind the scenes in the Van Cleef & Arpels studio. The interactive tour guides you through the different rooms and floors of the workshop, with informative videos and texts about the brand to give you all the insider knowledge you could possibly dream of.

GuerlainShalimar, the French brand’s iconic perfume, was inspired by the passionate love story of Muhgal Emperor Shâh Jahân and Indian princess Mumtaz Mahal. The tale, which captured the imagination of Jaques Guerlain when told to him by a maharajah passing through Paris, has been reinterpreted in a short film from the brand which distills the epic romance into a three minute clip with all the force, passion and stylish production of a Hollywood blockbuster. The film stars model Natalia Vodianova as the princess whose story unfolds in the breathtaking Indian countryside, in a dramatic revival of a classical tale of romance that takes us back to the roots of Guerlain‘s legendary fragrance.

]]>https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/fashion-forward-style-innovation-for-a-digital-age/feed/0slide_324451_3095655_largehcmeehanslide_324451_3095266_largeslide_324451_3095293_largeslide_324451_3095311_largeslide_324451_3095322_largeslide_324451_3095343_largeslide_324451_3095351_largeslide_324451_3095355_largeslide_324451_3095655_largeslide_324451_3095697_largeslide_324451_3095702_largeSunset in Moscowhttps://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/sunset-in-moscow/
https://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/sunset-in-moscow/#respondMon, 04 Nov 2013 21:21:30 +0000http://hcmeehan.wordpress.com/?p=52The last rays of daylight glint on the golden domes of the Kremlin, and glimmer in the champagne filled glasses on the roof terrace of the Ritz- Carlton hotel. Up here, the city’s wealthiest residents and guests guzzle bottle after bottle of brut and admire nightfall over Red Square.

Beyond the hotel doors and rows of neatly parked chauffeur driven Mercedes-Benz, an elderly babushka crouches on the pavement, gazing imploringly into the faces of passing strangers hoping for spare rubles. On the metro, a man in a soldier’s uniform missing both of his legs drags himself through rows of passengers begging for change. These people, whose lives were cast aside with the fall of communism, have nothing left to their names.

Moscow is a city of extremes. The thirty-degree-heat summer plummets into a harsh, snowy winter, blocking the roads with snow drifts and rupturing the streets and pavements through the processes of freezing and defrosting. Luckily for those at the top of the Russian food chain, a sub class of underpaid migrant workers slave 24 hours a day, shovelling the snow and ripping up and replacing the ruined tarmac every year to keep the stream of luxury cars trickling into the congested capital from nearby dachas. For those at the very top, even the traffic is not a problem, as the busiest of Moscow’s boulevards can be closed at a moment’s notice to accommodate the whims of a travelling oligarch, at the expense of the thousands of residents who frequent the city’s bus service.

Outside every metro station small markets have emerged, selling city necessities. Local farmers provide fresh, and often live, produce, babushkas sell everything from kitchen implements to underwear for pennies, and you can pick up an almost perfect replica of the latest designer handbag for a twentieth of the retail price.

Branches of the Russian answer to Poundland, the 36 Rubles (seventy pence) store, are scattered among these markets, selling anything and everything that can’t be found on the stalls. Beggars sitting between the venders hope for dropped change, watching as locals barter for extra deals and take whole roasted chickens for 170 rubles, £3, home to cramped flats, in which two rooms, decorated with the mismatched left-behinds of soviet wallpaper, are inhabited by families of five or six, the left-behinds of the soviet proletariat.

Despite being a common feature in the lives of Moscow’s poorer inhabitants, the markets are worlds away from the city’s wealthiest, who prefer imported western-style luxuries, shopping for clothes in designer department stores such as Gum, the temple to consumerism located directly opposite Lenin’s tomb on Red Square. However, the garments sold through these stores cannot be kept on the premises and have to be ordered in for customers, due to fear of the violence inspired by the sight of such ostentatious wealth in the lower ranks of the city’s population.

Supermarket chain Azbuka Vkusa accommodates for the dietary needs of Moscow’s elite, offering necessities such as boxes of Special K cereal sold for an unbelievable 550 rubles, or £11. These slices of the western dream are then chauffeured back to the housing compounds which, complete with armed security guards, house the upper end of Moscovite society in comfortable, modern apartments.

Security guards are ubiquitous in Moscow, patrolling compounds, watching shoppers in the mall, making their presence felt on street corners and in metro stations. Often privately hired by independent companies, they are responsible in all corners of the city for guarding the divide between the haves and the have nots, making the former feel secure, and intimidating any thoughts of dissidence out of the latter. As the upholders of entrenched inequality, they serve as constant reminders that the fall of communism has thrown any hope of Russian egalitarianism into darkness.